On April 20th I was a guest on Westchester Eye On The Radio, which is hosted by Peter Moses and John Churan of WVOX. Below is the third installment of that conversation and
Key Points from the show
Q: On break we were talking and you described Westchester marketing is like the Wild West.
A: The reason I said that is because it is changing so much. The industry is changing and we are all trying to figure it out and how to make it work for our own business and for our clients business. The internet has leveled the playing field. Because it is accessible to everybody. Media is essentially the same for a mom and pop shop as it is for Coke or Pepsi. Their goals may be different but the tools are still accessible and
Q: You mentioned the challenge of spotting growing trends or developing trends. My background is the auto industry and everyone still looks to the West Coast for developments that go nationwide after a year or two. Is there a specific area where someone should look to follow internet trends?
A: I think it is more industry-specific than geographically specific. If your business is very visual, such as interior design, they may be on Houzz.com, Pinterest, Instagram and use visual media frequently. Somebody that is more information-oriented might do better on Twitter, Facebook
Q: A trend we have seen in the last decade is a decline in words and an increase in visuals. How do you see that developing and how does it apply here in Westchester.
A: It’s interesting, it goes to the technology. Everyone is walking around with a camera and a video recording device in their pockets. That makes it very easy to share relevant information. A small shop owner can take advantage of this. Regular customers stop by and business owners take photos with them and post a shout out about it. A little pat on the back for someone that comes in regularly. If you have a visual business, as we were discussing before, you could take pictures of before and after and share those stories. We are very visual by nature, so being able to share images and moving images is a compelling way to share our story.
Q: I was looking at a website today, a restaurant website, and the entire screen was taken up by a picture
A: I would be interested in seeing the analytics behind that website. I have seen a trend towards big visuals, but that isn’t necessarily sharing relevant information to your readers. You can go too far in the other way, where several years ago it was all copy. It was difficult to share visual assets and with smart phones rolling out, that was easy for customers to get to you. I think we may have gone too far the other way, where it’s all visual.